Rates unchanged from the ECB and the BoE (MarketWatch) (13-01-2011)

LONDON (MarketWatch) — As expected, neither the European Central Bank nor the Bank of England changed their key lending rates. Now, investors are awaiting ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet’s monthly news conference.

The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank left its key lending rate at a record low 1%. Earlier, the Bank of England said its Monetary Policy Committee voted to again hold its key lending rate at 0.5%, also a record low, and to leave its 200 billion pound ($315 billion) asset-buying program on pause.

Trichet’s expected to face a grilling over the central bank’s response to the deepening euro-zone sovereign debt crisis.

In keeping with its usual practice when policy is left unchanged, the Bank of England offered no details regarding its policy vote. Investors and economists will await the release of minutes from the meeting on Jan. 26.

The Bank of England’s official lending rate has stood at a record low 0.5% since March 2009, while the bank’s program of bond purchases, the centerpiece of its quantitative-easing program, has been on hold for 11 months since a total of 200 billion pounds ($315 billion) of purchases were completed.

Source: MarketWatch